Tips & Strategies (6)

Farmers generate money. Well, at least in this game. You know your opponents are either going to be trading for them or assassinating them. Keep a chapter of Traders going, and also a chapter of Historians. That way you can either steal them back, or just rummage through the discard pile.

One of the critical things to remember about this game is that no card enters your Guildhall from your play area until your turn ends. This means that completing a Chapter from a card in play doesn’t happen until after your chance to take actions.

On the other hand, you can cheat that with cards like Weaver which let you place cards directly into your Guildhall. Once you complete a set of five colors for a Chapter, it is instantly completed and usable to buy Victory Point cards. Using your first action to play a card that would let you complete Chapters mid-turn then allows you to use your second action to buy good VP cards. If you have a little luck and the right plays, you can cascade one completed Chapter directly into another by using the VP card power.

My group really likes this game, but it can drag out a bit once you know how to block people from getting your stuff. It’s a great filler game if you just drop the VP requirement down a bit. We like 15 points as a nice sweet spot that cuts the game time by 10-15 minutes. This may change with expansions. You can pull out the really big VP cards to avoid the game ending too quickly due to a luck of the draw (They are a bit big anyway).

While it is tempting to always reserve an action for discarding cards to draw back up to 6, it is worth it to not use a draw action on your turn if it allows you to complete a Chapter and protect the stack you worked so carefully to build. There are no off-turn actions for you to use, so emptying your hand isn’t really a liability — outside of not allowing you to strategize your next turn. Play multiple profession cards, or trade in Chapters for VP cards which have special abilities abilities, as long as at the end of the day you haven’t left your best Chapter incomplete and thus vulnerable to your opponents.

The Weaver profession is a great way to set up chapter completion, letting you place one or more cards from hand directly into your Guildhall depending on the number you have in play. When you have two Weavers (or more) already and are playing a third, she becomes strategic. The middle action on the Weaver card (for 2+) is to place two cards into your Guildhall and bounce one back into your hand. There are many ways to exploit this to your advantage.

– Place cards into chapters to get to four out of five, then bounce a Trader or Historian for the coup de grace to complete a chapter or two on a second action.
– Place cards, then bounce a Dancer, allowing you to play her to draw more cards and take a free action.
– Place cards, then bounce a Farmer for instant VP.
– Place cards, then bounce an Assassin to slow down your opponents from having a great turn.

If you’re at the point where you are playing the fifth Weaver with four already on deck, you can slough as much of your hand as possible into your Guildhall, and bounce 2 cards back. This requires a fair amount of luck with your hand, but can be a powerful way to set up future turns.

Something which is often overlooked: even if you’re not actively seeking to complete a Dancer chapter, playing your first Dancer card is, effectively, a free action. It draws you zero cards, but still grants an extra action. If you have a single Dancer you cannot otherwise capitalize on (by using Weaver to play others, or by using Trader to take one first), play it to start a new chapter, setting yourself up for future turns of card draw + extra action.